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Katsutaka Imae
Katsutaka Imae (今江克孝, Imae Katsutaka) is a semi-recurring character in Hajime no Ippo. He is a former JBC lightweight champion. His surname is Katsutaka. In Japan, surnames are listed before given names. Background During High-School, Imae saw fellow classmates bullying SachikoRound 456. When he tried to defend her, he was beaten up. In order to protect her, he started to learn to box, where he started enjoying it. He never had time for her, since he was always training for it in order to get better while Sachiko tried to take care of him. At some point, in order to get better at boxing he started to push Sachiko away in order to concentrate on boxing and his matches more. Later, Imae did a "Ten Match Challenge" to get popularity, but unfortunately, he got beat up badly by the third challenger. History Part II In an article in sport section in the newspaper, Imae mentioned, "The Challenger's comic show will end soon. At any rate, I will show my real power and end the match quickly. It's going to be a one-side match." Aoki was worried about the headline where Imae mentioned "Crushing the Frog". Comic Show Arc After finding out that the match was sold out, Kikumoto Coach told Imae that people believed that he was a lame boxer, but this time he can show his real power, and appeal to a lot of people. Imae thought that it's going to be a serious match, no clowning around where he will win easily. His coach agreed, where he thought knocking out that clown will raise his popularity. They reviewed Aoki's information, Imae didn't think much of him since he clowned around, but Imae's coach noted that Aoki's a serious guy, but Imae disagreed with him based on the research he done. Imae told the coach his fight plans for Aoki, and how he will handle Aoki's various abilities. Imae declared he doesn't want to lose his belt to Aoki, and the coach believed that Imae is the only person in Japan that study Aoki in detail and he had no doubt he will win. When Imae first met Aoki at the weigh in, Aoki was nude getting ready to be weighed. Imae was angry when he seen Aoki not taking it seriously. Both Boxers pass the weigh in, the reporters wanted them to shake hands, but Imae refused. he mentioned if Aoki was someone he respected, he would, but he decided that it's worthless to shake his hand. He doesn't consider Aoki a boxer. He thought Aoki's Frog Punch was a joke, and he will destroy it. Aoki told him that he didn't study enough, that if Imae would really think he would fight a title match without a new present for him. Imae was not afraid of Aoki's supposedly new skill. He believed all of Aoki's techniques were weird, but none of them scared him. Aoki told him that his new technique was an attack to his instinct, where it's impossible to defend. He added that he will prove to Imae that he was not just a clown, he also done his research. Imae told him that if he was a researcher, than he was a hard worker. After the weight in, Sachiko was waiting for him. She brought food to help Imai regain his strength, but Imae doesn't want any. He was mad that she showed up. He told her that he broke up with her because he loved boxing too much. He can't mix boxing and woman together. Prior to the match, Imae was feeling the pressure, where he had a hard time calming down. In the bathroom, he ran into Aoki. He told Aoki that broken up with his girlfriend to dedicate himself to the sport of boxing, but then Aoki Masaru challenged him for the title and showed him what a fighter with a girlfriend could do. Imae was surprised to learn Aoki brought his girlfriend, Tomiko, to the locker room, since he broke up with his girlfriend in order to concentrate on boxing. He couldn't believe that Aoki would come to the ring fooling around with a girl. He planned to show Aoki the strength of a serious boxer. Aoki started laughing thinking he won, since Imae was throwing away he goddess of victory. The match resulted in a draw, but Imae and Aoki became friendly rivals, and Imae got back together with his girlfriend. Later, it was revealed that Imae lost his title in a match after Aoki, due to the damage he got from fighting him. Chronos Arc After Imae lost the JBC title to Ōshima Sōshi, Imae managed stay in the upper rankings for a position in the Class A Tournament for another shot at the JBC title. Imae's first round match was against Iga Shinobu. Imae was effortlessly defeated in the first round. Match History Successions Appearance Imae has long black hair, and brown eyes. He also has a mole above his left eyebrow. He tends to be on the serious side, and dresses the part. Personality Imae is a boxer with the same tastes in girls as Aoki. However, he dumped his girlfriend and said he never wanted to see her again, since he believed having any sort of relationship would be half-assing his boxing career. He later reconnected with her after facing Aoki and having a change of heart. When he was about to lose the match he remembered that impressing his girlfriend was the reason he even started boxing to begin with (like Date Eiji); and this actually motivated him for the rest of the match. Boxing Abilities Imae's boxing is the definition of "textbook": he fights very cautiously, rarely deviating from the normal jabs and one-twos and having no other specialised punches. He fights with efficiency rather than doing any unpredictable punches or shifts, cheesy tactics or trying to catch the opponent off guard, which practically makes him the polar opposite to Aoki. He is a boxer who mostly has won by decisions, and has a low percentage of KOs. Gallery Manga Scenes= Imae and Aoki stare down.png|Imae and Aoki stare down Imae arriving.png|Imae arriving Aoki gets wet.png|Aoki gets wet Iga vs Imae -01.png|Imae losing to Iga Imae vs Iga vs 001.png|Imae and coach for the Iga match |-| vs Aoki Masaru= Imae researching Aoki.png|Imae researching Aoki Aoki look away.png|Aoki doing the look away Imae looking away.png|Imae looking away Imae spotting girlfriend.png|Imae spotting girlfriend Aoki missed.png|Aoki missed |-| Video Game= Imae - PS3 - 01.png Imae - PS3 - 02.png Imae - PS3 - 03.png |-| Anime Scenes= vlcsnap-2014-08-18-17h52m40s222.png|Imae together with his Goddess of Victory Aoki vs imae.png|Imae punching Aoki. References Category:Characters Category:Male characters Category:Characters from Tokyo Category:Characters from Japan Category:Boxers Category:Active boxers Category:Orthodox Boxers Category:Hybrid Boxers Category:Lightweights Category:Champions Category:JBC Champions Category:Kikumoto Boxing Gym